BGSU luminary passes away

Bill Frack, Findlay native who donated roughly $20M to school, dies at 79

William "Bill" Frack high-fives students during the dedication of the Stroh Center at Bowling Green State University, Friday, Sept. 9, 2011. Mr. Frack passed away today at 79.

FINDLAY — Bill Frack, a Findlay native who donated roughly $20 million to Bowling Green State University men’s basketball and other causes, died Wednesday at age 79.

He had cancer.

In 2008 Frack donated a “leadership gift” that helped result in the construction of the Stroh Center, where the basketball court is named in his honor.

Three years later he promised $10 million to the men’s basketball program, the largest single gift to a basketball program in Mid-American Conference history. In April he announced that the endowment had reached $20 million, with some of the proceeds earmarked to fight homelessness and domestic violence.

The portion of the endowment earmarked for Falcon men‘s basketball is expected to generate roughly $675,000 a year for the program in perpetuity.

A few weeks prior to that announcement, Frack gave $700,000 to the university. The school used that money to hire new men’s basketball coach Chris Jans from Wichita State.